Simulated fish catching game



Sept. 21, 1965 E. J. MIREIDER SIMULATED FISH CATGHING GAME 2Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 8, 1965 EDWARD d. MIREIDER 14.772260? Sept.21, 1965 E. J. MIREIDER 3,207,515

SIMULATED FISH GATCHING GAME Filed March s, 1965 2 sheets-sheet 2 j e 87N.

IN VENTOR.

EDWARD d. Ml REIDER BY United States Patent O 3,207,515 SIMULATED FISHCATCHING GAME Edward J. Mireider, 268 Genesee Ave., Staten Island, N.Y.Filed Mar. 8, 1963, Ser. No. 263,880 1 Claim. (Cl. 273-101) Thisinvention relates to the art of amusement devices and particularlyconcerns an amusing and entertaining game of skill.

According to the invention there is provided on a game board, a hollowfish-like figure. A spring tensioned plunger is located at one end ofthe game board. A player operating the plunger can drive a playing ballthrough the fish-like figure into a net. The net is pivotally mounted ona stand Which carries a spring biased lever. A playing piece in the formof a fish is supported on the lever. The lever is released when the balllands in the net and the playing piece is thrown into a second net heldby the pivotable arm of a figure simulating a fisherman. The arm of thefisherman operates a switch when the playing piece lands in the secondnet to close an electric circuit including a pair of lamps. The lampsare mounted as eyes on the hollow fish-like figure and light up 'toindicate that the fish-like playing piece has been caught by thefisherman. If the ball misses the first net, the ball lands in a troughand is guided back to the plunger.

It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a game ofskill in which a player tries to catch a fishf A further object is toprovide a game of skill in which a player drives a ball into a first netby releasing a spring actuated plunger, and the net serves to release aspring biased lever which throws a playing piece into a second net.

Another object is to provide a game of skill as described wherein lampslight to indicate the catch of the playing piece in the second net.

Other objects are to provide a game of skill as described wherein ahollow fish-like figure is employed as a ball guide; wherein a trough isused to catch and return a ball missing the first net; wherein theindicating lamps are arranged as eyes of the fish-like figure; andwherein the first net has a supporting arm including catch means toprevent actuation of the lever until the ball lands in the first net.

Still other objects are to provide an inexpensive game assembly whichwill amuse player and spectators; which requires some skill to obtain asuccessful catch of a fish, which retains the interest of players oversustained periods; and which is relatively simple in construction.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following descriptionand accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a top plan veiw of the game with parts shown in position readyfor play.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2 2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the game showing the parts aspositioned at the end of a cycle of play.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the electrical circuit employed in the game.

Referring to FIGS. l-3, there is shown a fish game or game assemlbyincluding a flat game board or runway 12. At one end of the board is anelongated tubular casing 14 open at its inner end and having a wallclosure 16 at its outer end. A plunger 18 is movably disposed in thecasing. Attached to the plunger is a shaft 19 on which is a coil spring20. The shaft 19 extends outwardly of hole 22 in wall 16 and terminatesin a knob 24. A

playing ball 25 is freely disposed in the casing and can be struck bythe plunger 18 to drive the ball outwardly of the casing along the board12.

At the other end of the board is a hollow fish-like figure 26. Thisfigure has a wide forward head 27 with a wide mouth opening 28. Thefigure 26 has a curved, tapered, hollow fishtail 30 including twoopposing tapered walls 32, 34 and vertical side walls 31. The wallstaper from a larger opening 33 communicating with the hollow head 27 ofthe figure. The shtail has a narrow opening 35 at its ends located abovethe head 27 of the figure 26.

Mounted on top of the head is a figure 36 simulating a fisherman. Thefisherman figure 36 is hollow. Inside the fisherman figure is astationary switch contact 38 and a movable switch contact 40. Contact 40is carried by a shaft 42. The shaft extends through opposite shoulders43 of the fisherman. An arm 44 is secured to the shaft at the right sideof the fisherman. Arm 44 is integral wtih handle 45 of a net frame 46.The frame supports a net 48. A coil spring 49 is secured between theouter end of arm 44 and the right shoulder of the fisherman and normallyholds the arm 44 and net 48 elevated as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Located between opposite ends of the board 12 is an upright post orstand 50. Near its lower end the post has an opening 51 in which isfitted a tapered trough 53. Another opening 52 is located below opening51. The trough is inclined downward toward the casing 14. The rear upperend of the trough is located below a net 54 having a handle 56 pivotallycarried by a shaft 58. Shaft 58 is mounted in opening 60 near the upperend of the post or stand. Opening 60 has slanted top and bottom edges61, 63. The handle has a stub end 64 carrying a finger 66 which extendsforwardly of the post 50.

Finger 66 engages in a recess 67 of a leaf spring 68. The spring '68 isheld by pin 70 on the post. The free end 69 of the spring 68 is bentforwardly and engages a catch finger 72 carried by a lever 74. The leveris connected to end 75 of a coil spring 76 by staples 78. The other end79 of the coil spring is secured by staples 80 to post 50. The end 79 ofthe coil spring extends beyond staples 80 and is inserted in the centralpassage 82 in the spring. The spring end 79 serves as a support for thelever 74 in addition to end 69 of the spring.

A playing piece 84 in the form of a simulated fish is freely supportedon the free forward end of horizontal lever 74 when the game is inplaying position as shown in FIGS. l and 2.

Inside the fish figure 26 at mouth opening 28 is a spring bracket 85removably supporting a battery 86. The battery has its negative terminalcontacting bracket 85 which is connected by wire 87 to two lamps 88 asindicated in FIG. 4. The positive terminal of the battery contactsspring clip 93 connected by wire 89 to movable switch contact 40normally open from fixed switch contact 38. Switch contact 38 isconnected by wire 41 to the lamps 88. Lamps 88 are carried by sockets 90on inner sides of the figure 26 and are exposed in openings 92 tosimulate eyes of the fish-like figure 26.

To play the game, the playing piece or fish 84 is placed on lever 74which is elevated horizontally and its catch finger 72 is engaged by theend of catch spring 68. The net 54 is rotated to a horizontal positionso that finger 66 engages in spring recess 67. Ball 25 is located atplunger 18 as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The net 48 is elevated tohorizontal position since spring 49 is contracted. Switch contacts 38and 40 are open and the lamps 88 are extinguished.

When the player pulls knob 24 outwardly or forwardly, spring 20 iscontracted. The player then releases the knob and the plunger strikesball 25 as the spring 20 expands.

` tapered walls of the fishtail 30.

The ball follows the dotted line path P indicated in FIG. 2. It passesthrough opening 52 in post 50 and through mouth opening 28. The ball isthen guided by the curved, The ball is diverted by curved wall 34 andpasses out of opening 35. The ball lands in net S4 if the ball 25 wasinitially struck with sufiicient force. If the ball overshoots the net,it strikes post 50 and falls into trough 53. If the ball has not beenstruck with enough force to reach the net 54 it will fall directly intothe trough 53. Y The ball which lands in trough 53 rolls down the troughand falls on the board 12 near plunger 18.

V If the ball lands in net 54 the net is rotated downwardly until handle56 engages top and bottom ends 61, 63 lof post opening 60. Then finger66 is disengaged from spring recess 67 and the spring retracts towardthe post.' This disengages spring end 69 from catch finger 72 and thelever 74 is rotated by the coil spring 76. The lever 74 strikes the topof the post as the'fish 84 is thrown rearwardly in path P into net 48.The net then descends due to the weight of fish 84 as shown in FIG. 2,and contacts 38, 40 close to energize and light the lamps 88. Thisindicates that a fish has been caught by the fisherman 36. If the ball25 missed net 54, the fish 84 will not be thrown and the fish net 48will remain elevated while lamps 88 will remain unlit.

The game thus involves considerable skill to obtain the desired resultof catching a fish. With practice, the player can improve his dexterityto catch a fish quite often. This will provide entertainment andamusement to players and spectators alike.

The game can be assembled from inexpensive metal and plastic parts. Theboard 12 can be made of metal, wood or plastic or even heavy cardboard.The game has a simple, rugged construction and will withstand repeateduse over a long period of time. The battery 86 can easily be replacedwhen exhausted.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to theprecise construction herein disclosed and that various changes andmodifications may be made within the s-cope of the invention as definedin the appended claim.`

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent A simulated fish catching game,comprising a game board, a spring actuated plunger at one end of saidboard for driving a ball, a hollow fish-like figure at the other end ofsaid boar-d, ysaid fish-like figure having a large hollow head with amouth open to said plunger, said figure having a tapered hollow tail'open to said head at its wider end, said tail curving upwardly andforwardly over said head and opening in a narrow end toward said one endof the board, said figure providing a guide for said ball to direct thesame toward saidkone end of the board, a post on said board locatedbetween opposite ends thereof, a first net pivotally supported by saidpost to catch the ball passed out of the narrow end of said tail, aspring biased rotatable lever carried by said post, catch means on saidprost detachably engaging both said lever and said net, said leverproviding a support for a fish-likel playing piece when the lever isengaged by said catch means, a second net disposed to catch thefish-like playing piece when thrown Iby the'lever upon lrelease fromsaid catch means, a simulated fisherman on said head of said fishlikefigure, said simulated fisherman having a hollow body providing apivotal mounting for said second net, nor mally open electrical switchmeans in said body, lamps and a power supply carried by said fish-likefigure in circuit with said` switch means, whereby said lamps light whenthe fish-like playing piece lands in the second net to pivot the sameand close said switch means, said catch means including a leaf spring,said leaf spring having a bent end and a recess adjacent to said bentend, said first net having a handle with a first finger engageable insaid recess of the leaf spring, said lever having another fingerengageable with said bent end of the leaf spring, whereby disengagementof the first finger from the leaf spring permits the leaf spring todisengage said other finger to release said lever, and a trough carriedby said post `to catch the ball and return the same. to said plungerwhen the ball misses the first net, said power supply comprising abattery, said circuit including a spring bracket in said head supportingthe battery, said bracket making contact with one terminal of thebattery, said circuit further including a spring clip contacting anotherterminal of the battery and wires connecting the spring bracket andspring clip with said lamps and said switch means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 948,565 2/10Munshaw 273-101 1,628,364 5/27 Hiea. 1,681,682 s/zs Mcvey 273-101v3,072,409 1/63 Petraske 273-138 3,092,387 6/63 wagner 273-101X FOREIGNPATENTS 1,124,700 7/56 France.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Examiner.

